The Boats

Since 2009, original duo (Andrew Hargreaves & Craig Tattersall) has become a trio, including Danny Norbury. 

The Boats are of course the well known duo of Craig Tattersall and Andrew Hargreaves, now joined by Danny Norbury on cello, as well as Chris Stewart and Elaine Reynolds on vocals. Craig has previously recorded under Hood, the Archivist and The Remote Viewer, runs the Cotton Goods label and co-runs the excellent Moteer and Mobeer labels with Andrew Johnson. Andrew Hargreaves records as Beppu and co-runs the Lacies’ label with his partner, Alice. As The Boats they have released various works on Moteer, Our Small Ideas, Flau (‘Faulty Toned Radio’) and of course, Home Normal with ‘Words Are Something Else’. The newest member to The Boats as of 2009 is the very talented Danny Norbury. He regularly works with Library Tapes, as well as being one-half of the duo Le Lendemain (with David Wenngren aka Library Tapes), and he has also recorded solo projects for Ono, Static Caravan and last year’s wonderful Light In August release on Lacies’.

A little while after the release of ‘Words Are Something Else’, Andrew, Craig, Danny and myself came together to talk about playing some shows both in the UK, as well as a tour in Japan. It just felt like a nice natural progression really as they are rarely known to play many live shows, and to get them to come to Japan meant a lot to both them and I. What culminated was the great Home Normal night in December (2009) at Café Oto in London, with Danny Norbury and The Boats headlining a very special event indeed. As we met up for the first time in person then, we confirmed how much we wanted to organise the Japan tour and so pushed on with the aid of our mutual friends Yasuhiko Fukuzono (aka Aus) and Masami Shimomura (p*dis).

During the various meetings, phone calls and emails back and forth, we decided that it would be a perfect time to release something of an ‘unknown’ overview of where The Boats are at and what they have done over the years. Yasuhiko Fukuzono (who also runs Flau) and I decided that it would be entirely appropriate to do a one-off collaborative release between Home Normal and Flau, as we are such closely tied labels, mutual friends with The Boats, and as a way of coming together for an album release to tie in with our combined Boats and Danny Norbury Japan tour in May of this year. The result of all this is Sleepy Insect Music, a compilation of unreleased or very limited edition works on compilations and Our Small Ideas, an unreleased remix and reworking of previously released work (‘raindrops’). As such it is an essential collection of work for Boats fans and new listeners alike, a wonderful summary of who The Boats are, or the perfect introduction, however you want to view it.

- Ian Hawgood

• 2004 - Songs by the Sea - 320 Kbps
• 2005 - We Made It for You - 320 Kbps
• 2006 - Tomorrow Time - 320 Kbps
• 2006 - Typewriter [with Pendle Coven] - 320 Kbps
• 2007 - The Scientific Contrast - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - Our Small Ideas - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - Faulty Toned Radio - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - Saturation, Humm & Hiss - 192 Kbps
• 2008 - Stenography [with Pan Am Scan] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Words Are Something Else - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Verbs Are Not Enough - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Sleepy Insect Music - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Ex. 1. 27th October 1950 - 192 Kbps
• 2011 - Do The Boats Dream of Electric Fritz Pfleumer? - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - The Ballad of the Eagle - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Ballads of the Darkroom - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Ballads of the Research Department - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - River Calder - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Nomenclature - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Live At St. James Priory, Bristol - 320 Kbps
• 2015 - Abstraction - 320 Kbps
• 2015 - Lost Ideas - 320 Kbps

 Side projects:

Andrew Hargreaves

• 2008 - Avant Garde - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Process [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - 1953 Culture Festival [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Input [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Output [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Process [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Defragment - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Fragments - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - Maybe I Told A Small Lie [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - In A Lonely Place [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - The Word On My Lips Is Your Name [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - The Killer in the Rain [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Redemption Forest [in The Mistys with Beth Roberts] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Stalking / Drawers [in The Mistys with Beth Roberts] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Coercion [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Yesterday, This Would've Meant So Much to Us [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Manchester Bootleg [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Post Content [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2015 - Persuasion [as Beppu] - 320 Kbps
• 2016 - Go Straight to the Light of All That You Love [as Tape Loop Orchestra] - 320 Kbps

Craig Tattersall

• 2000 - Quiet Is The New Loud [in The  Remote Viewer with Andrew Johnson] - 192 Kbps
• 2001 - Making Love All Night Wrong / The Famous Boyfriend [in The Famous Boyfriend with  Andrew Johnson] - 256 Kbps
• 2002 - Here I Go Again on My Own [in The  Remote Viewer with Andrew Johnson] - 320 Kbps
• 2004 - You're Going To Love Our Defeatist Attitude [in The  Remote Viewer with Andrew Johnson] - 320 Kbps
• 2005 - Let Your Heart Draw a Line [in The  Remote Viewer with Andrew Johnson] - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - I Can't Believe It's Not Better [in The  Remote Viewer with Andrew Johnson] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - The Keeper of the Library [as The Archivist] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - A Miscellany for the Quiet Hours [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Mobeer 009 [as The Archivist with David Newlyn & Insecto]- 192 Kbps
• 2010 - Morning Music [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - The Indescribable Brightness Shone [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - The Royal Game [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - The Wooden Laser [as The Archivist] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Henrietta [as The Humble Bee] - 256 Kbps
• 2013 - Light Folds [The Seaman & The Tattered Sail] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Instruction Booklet N. 1232 [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - She Possessed The Secret For Listening To The Stars [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Snowflake [in The Humble Bee & Players] - 320 Kbps
• 2015 - Deathless Songs [as The Humble Bee] - 320 Kbps

Danny Norbury

• 2007 - Dusk - 304-319 Kbps
• 2009 - Light in August - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Fires [in Le Lendemain with David Wenngren] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Bluebeard - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Sparks [in Black Elk (collaboration between Tim Martin (Maps & Diagrams) and Ian Hawgood both on "acoustic, electronic, mixing and compositional duties" with Danny Norbury on cello and Clem Leek on piano] - 192 Kbps
• 2011 - The Writing Life [in Kinder Scout with Ian D. Hawgood & Offthesky] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - The Curio Collection [in Kinder Scout with Ian D. Hawgood & Offthesky] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Hibernate/Home Normal at the Vortex, 22/03/13 [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Sketches I [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Sketches II [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Sketches III [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Sketches IV [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - Sketches V [Black Elk live] - 320 Kbps

Ask for download links in comments.